{"id":15785,"date":"2025-11-04T21:46:58","date_gmt":"2025-11-05T04:46:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/unofficial-results-for-montezuma-cortez-re-1-school-district-seats\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:50:34","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:50:34","slug":"unofficial-results-for-montezuma-cortez-re-1-school-district-seats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/unofficial-results-for-montezuma-cortez-re-1-school-district-seats\/","title":{"rendered":"Unofficial results for Montezuma-Cortez RE-1 school district seats"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Early
Early votes for new members of the Montezuma-Cortez School District RE-1 school board have been reported Tuesday evening. (Journal file photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Unofficial results show leading candidates in the Montezuma-Cortez RE-1 School District board race.<\/p>\n

Five of 11 candidates are filling seats on the Montezuma-Cortez RE-1 School District board, according to Tuesday\u2019s unofficial vote count.<\/p>\n

In District A, Lara Maria Blair leads with 54.92% of votes.In District B, Barbara Mate leads with 100% of votes.In District D, Joshua Shumway leads with 57.00% of votes.In District E, Justine Bayles leads with 36.83% of votesIn District F, Laura DeWitt leads with 47.02% of votes. <\/div>\n

Mate ran unopposed. Mike Lynch of District G is the only returning board member who was not termed out or up for reelection.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis victory belongs to all of us \u2013 families, volunteers, teachers and students \u2013 our community\u2019s voice was heard loud and clear,\u201d Blair told The Journal.<\/p>\n

Blair is the finance manager at The Pi\u00f1on Project Family Resource Center and has two sons attending Kemper Elementary and Montezuma-Cortez High School. She has lived in Cortez since 2009.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m grateful for the community\u2019s confidence and look forward to serving with integrity, transparency and a focus on what matters most \u2013 our kids,\u201d Mate said.<\/p>\n

Mate is a full-time real estate broker and recently worked part time for The Farm Bistro and the Cortez Area Chamber of Commerce. She has volunteered in her children\u2019s education for 10 years.<\/p>\n

In October, Mate told The Journal<\/em> she hadn\u2019t planned to run but felt the community needed a voice, describing herself as a \u201cgreat listener.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shumway is director of pharmacy for Axis Health System and holds a Doctor of Pharmacy degree.<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you, Montezuma County voters for your confidence and to the team of teachers who supported my efforts,\u201d Bayles said. \u201cI look forward to all future conversations, dialogue and decisions to be made with our children\u2019s best interest in mind. I look forward to engaging with the community and working with the other directors. I am appreciative of this opportunity to be a part of local education again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bayles is a former elementary and middle school teacher, minibus driver, administrator and former Mancos school board treasurer. She now works part time at Cliffrose Garden Center.<\/p>\n

DeWitt is an optometrist who has served on the District Accountability Committee and volunteered as a parent in the district.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m deeply thankful for the trust this community has placed in me. I\u2019ve had so many thoughtful conversations over the past few months \u2026 and I\u2019ve learned something from every single one. I know this work won\u2019t be easy, but I believe that when we listen to each other, really listen, we can find a way forward that puts students first and reflects the values of our community,\u201d DeWitt said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you, neighbors, for showing up, asking hard questions, and caring about our schools. I\u2019m ready to get to work.\u201d<\/p>\n

New members will fill the seats of former board President Sheri Noyes (District F), who termed out, and Paul Beckler (District B), who did not seek reelection. Incumbents Leland Collins and Ed Rice are seeking reelection.<\/p>\n

Other candidates include Tiffany Cheney (District A) with 45.08% of the vote; Zane Kuenzler (District E), 32.23%; Rice (District E), 30.93%; Erik Quiroz (District F), 12.70%; Ricky Carver (District F), 40.28%; and Collins (District D), 43.00%.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Numbers released for eleven candidates <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15786,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-15785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15785"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15785\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19841,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15785\/revisions\/19841"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15785"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=15785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}